The Best Mistake - Cookie O'Gorman Page 0,81

say anything. It was probably Emmy with soup again…or Charlie with cake…or Rose with Chinese. My roommates seemed to think food could make me better. But like I’d told them before, I just wasn’t hungry—or sick. Unless being heartsick was a real thing.

A second later, the door opened…revealing the last person on Earth I expected to see.

“Baylor?” My brow furrowed, and I sat up slowly. “What are you doing here?”

“Good question.” He glanced around the room before his eyes settled on me. I must’ve looked pretty bad because the playboy winced. “Just here to help. Emmy said you guys were painting today.”

I closed my eyes. “Oh yeah…I forgot about that.”

“Did you forget to shower and eat, too?”

My eyes snapped open. “What?”

“That came out wrong. I was just thinking maybe you and my brother are coming down with the same thing.” Baylor walked farther into the room and took a seat at my desk. His eyes pierced me. “Just so you know, Archer doesn’t look any better than you do.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I asked.

Because it didn’t.

It really didn’t.

He groaned. “Listen, I’m bad at this. But the good twin is currently out of commission, and Archer’s still swimming in guilt. So, I guess you’re stuck with me.”

Crossing my arms, I gave him my best glare. “I agree. You are bad at this.” I sniffed, then added, “And what does Archer have to feel guilty about, anyway?”

“Well,” Baylor said, “for one, he feels awful about how things ended with you—not that he told any of us the details. Archer keeps his pain all locked up, thinks he’s fooling people. But I can see it. We all can.”

I swallowed.

“And he feels guilty about Chase, too.”

That made me sit up straighter. “But why? Even if he’d been there that night, things escalated so quickly.”

“I know.”

“The girls told me about it,” I added. “They said those guys seemed like they were on something. The news said a gun was found in their car. If Chase hadn’t stepped in, they might’ve killed someone. Why would Archer feel responsible for that? There was nothing he or any of you could do.”

Baylor ran a hand through his hair. “I may have had something to do with that.”

“How?”

He sighed. “I talked it over with Emmy, and she says I projected my own guilt onto Archer when he came to the hospital.” Baylor cleared his throat. “She’s usually right about these things. So, I admit it. I messed up, and I’m sorry about that.”

“Archer makes his own decisions,” I said. “You can’t blame yourself.”

“Actually, I can,” he said. “Which is why I’m here now, asking you to give him another shot.”

Tears filled my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. “I wasn’t the one who broke it off in the first place.”

Baylor nodded. “I know, Honor. But he’s in love with you.”

The wet drops fell fast against my cheeks.

“When he comes to you,” he said, “I just wanted to make sure you’ll hear him out. Don’t worry. Archer’s not like me. He’s one of the good ones.”

Getting myself under control, I took a deep breath then pushed away my tears and looked at him, really looked at him. Not the playboy, not the cocky athlete, but the guy underneath all that. “You’re one of the good ones, too, Baylor O’Brien. Though you may not want anyone to know it.”

His playful grin was back in an instant. “Oh? How so?”

“Well, you’re here, singing your brother’s praises, asking me to give him another go. There’s just one problem,” I said.

Baylor cocked his head and waited.

“Archer doesn’t love me,” I said with a shrug. “He’s not coming back.”

“We’ll see about that.”

The wink he sent me was full of confidence as he stood, but I only felt more tired. It was nice of Baylor to talk to me. But I couldn’t allow it to give me hope. I’d already accepted the fact that Archer was an impossibility.

Now, I just had to work on the empty hole he’d left inside my chest.

“You look terrible,” Chase said.

I shrugged. “Says the guy in the cast.”

“Hey, don’t use my injury against me, Archer. I’m just trying to understand why my once strong and stubborn brother is now moping around the house, looking like a kicked puppy, acting like he has nothing better to do than babysit me.”

“Shut up,” I mumbled half-heartedly.

Baylor and Dex walked through the door a moment later. Their shirts were covered in white and blue splatters, but I barely noticed.

“Where have